This June, K1X is releasing a Puerto Rican edition of their Strictly Business model. With an arresting combination of patent, perforated leather, multi-layered mesh, and an internalized heel counter, the shoe is sure to be a winner when it hits the courts on Rick Apodaca’s feet in the ’08 Beijing Olympics. The medial side of the S.B. could be the most curious implementation of visual design seen in a long while. Relying on carefully placed stitching and color placement, Puerto Rico’s flag is ingeniously placed along the mid-foot, adding extra pop to an already ill shoe. These will be exclusively at Footlockers in NYC & Puerto Rico in limited quantities throughout the summer.
Peep Justin Solomon’s awesome piece on Apodaca from last week:
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:28 am
Teddy "Doowop" says:
these are UG to the tenth degree
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:20 am
Chris says:
i don’t know about these.. lol
April 22nd, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Bobbito Garcia a.k.a. Kool Bob Love says:
whether you like the strictly bizness model or not, doesn’t matter to me. i give props to K1X for recognizing one of my country’s top athletes, and for making the shoe available on the island. wanna hear something funny? when nike did the first AF1 with the puerto rico flag circa ‘99, it was only available in NYC. sneakerheads in puerto rico that knew me were kind of upset by that.
April 22nd, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Jeremy Ripley says:
Hey y’all. Different strokes for different folks, word to Gary Coleman. I really like these!
k1x is coming out with incredibly functional hoops shoes that can be pulled off on the casual side as well. The flag implementation is certainly different, but it’s eye-catching, meaningful, and truly inventive design. I’d rock these on my feet.
Bob, I’m truly about paying homage to people’s heritage, home country etc. I think k1x would be undertaking quite a bit if they created a shoe based off of my ancestral past.
-German
-Bohemian
-Irish
-Italian
-French-Canadian
-Scottish
-Native American (only like 3% though!) haha…I think that would be a mess!
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:22 pm
mr. k1x says:
look for the p.r. pride team to be sporting these this summer in NY
April 23rd, 2008 at 12:27 pm
illest says:
i wish nike would go back to the air force ones of the islands. why would they stop doing that? the puerto rican and west indies were so butta.
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Inner City Blues says:
On the real, these are fire! I was feeling them when I was just looking at the top photo/lateral aspect! When I scrolled down and saw the flag on the medial side, I was blown away! These are a must have for me this summer but K1X needs to make these with a Costa Rican flag! Peace from the City of Brotherly Love…